5 days ago
Wild searching for new AHL coach after Brett McLean hired as Canucks assistant
Less than a month after Minnesota Wild president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin said he was not firing Brett McLean following two tough seasons as AHL Iowa's head coach, the organization will now conduct a coaching search to replace McLean, who was hired to Adam Foote's Vancouver Canucks staff on Thursday.
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Iowa had identical 27-37-8 records the past two seasons, finishing 30th in the AHL in 2024-25 and 29th in 2023-24. This past season, Iowa ranked 32nd on the power play and penalty kill, 28th in goals scored and 31st in goals against.
McLean spent three seasons as an assistant coach with Minnesota before being persuaded by Guerin to take his first head coaching job two years ago.
Reached Thursday afternoon, Guerin said he will be involved in the search, which will be led Iowa Wild GM Matt Hendricks. The organization has a short list of candidates it would like to talk to. One possibility may be Iowa assistant coach Ben Simon, who spent five seasons as AHL Grand Rapids' head coach.
'We don't have a long list but some great coaches we're interested in,' Guerin said.
During McLean's tenure on Minnesota's bench, the Wild made the playoffs in three consecutive seasons and went 134-63-23 (.661) — the sixth-best points percentage in the NHL during the span. Prior to Minnesota, he was an assistant coach with Iowa for three years.
A native of Comox, B.C., McLean owns BNA Brewing in Kelowna.
McLean, 46, was a high-energy, good-skating forward who played professionally for 18 seasons, compiling 1,111 games across the NHL, AHL, IHL, ECHL, SEL, Swiss-A and the Austrian League. He scored 162 points in 385 career games with the Blackhawks, Avalanche and Panthers but just missed playing with Foote with the Avs.
